2 UVM Medical Center unions vote to authorize strike

Nicole DiVita, president of the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, right, and Jacob Berkowitz, president of UVMMC Support Staff United, pictured Oct. 2. Photo by Olivia Gieger/VTDigger

Updated at 4:24 p.m.

BURLINGTON — Two UVM Medical Center unions said Friday they voted to go on strike.

The vote gives union leaders the power to call a strike and begin the legal notification process before staff officially report to the picket line. Union officials said 82 percent of voting members voted in favor of authorizing a strike.

The support staff and technical staff unions represent 3,300 members and jointly negotiated their two separate contracts. They are calling for the medical center to have more say over staffing levels, as the hospital network undergoes layoffs and restructuring to cope with tight financial pressures.

Unions must file 10 days’ notice with the Vermont Labor Relations Board before any strike begins, something bargaining teams have not yet done.

The support staff union includes workers such as licensed practical nurses and schedulers, while the technical professionals union includes roles such as laboratory and sterilization technicians. They share a union with nurses at UVM Medical Center, but the nurses’ contract remains in effect for another year.

Last week, the hospital’s bargaining team presented unions with its “last, best, final offer” for support and technical staff, sparking the week-long vote on approving the strike. The two sides have been in negotiations since April.

The authorization is likely to kick off a series of intense negotiations in hopes of avoiding a strike, said Jacob Berkowitz, president of the hospital’s support staff union.

“We are not going to give notice of a strike until all options have been exhausted, but the window is closing,” he said. “I think we can avoid it. I’m confident that now that management knows we’re not joking, we can come to a reasonable agreement. But they have to come to the table.”

The hospital also indicated its willingness to negotiate and avoid a strike.

“We appreciate that while the union has received the necessary votes to strike, it has not yet issued a formal notice, which gives us the opportunity to continue productive discussions,” Phil Rau, UVM Health network spokesperson, wrote in a statement. “We sincerely believe we can work together to avoid a strike and finalize a strong contract. »

No upcoming bargaining sessions are planned, the unions and the hospital confirmed.

If staff were to strike, the hospital would have to recruit, house and pay increased strike rates to temporary replacement staff. This could cost the health network millions of dollars when it is already forecasting losses of $150 million for the 2026 and 2027 financial years.

Berkowitz said he believes if staff goes on strike, it would be the largest strike in the history of Vermont’s health care industry.

Staffing levels and job security have become sticking points in negotiations, as UVM Health makes layoffs across its network of hospitals and health care facilities to deal with its losses.

The current technical staff contract gives employees the opportunity to weigh in on shortages and staffing needs. Technical staff are demanding improvements to this agreement, and hospital management is demanding full say over staffing levels, according to the union.

The support staff union does not have such an agreement in its current contract and has proposed creating one. In its responses, hospital management retained the final say on staffing levels, union representatives told VTDigger.

Likewise, the two unions are asking hospital management to pay an increase to staff working on a floor deemed to have a staff shortage.

“Our proposals maintain patient safety standards and we have asked unions to partner with us to develop staffing plans in a more flexible way that is in the best interest of our patients, staff and the future of the hospital,” Rau said in his statement.

Union members are concerned about the effects a reduction in staffing levels could have on day-to-day patient care.

“When we run out of LNA, it’s horrible,” Berkowitz said. “That’s where patient falls happen. That’s where people don’t bathe properly. That’s where wound care happens.”

Brett Rhodes, a certified nursing assistant and member of the union negotiating team, told VTDigger that his top priority is reaching an agreement that allows staff to have some clarity and say in staffing levels in each department. He worries about the strain understaffing puts on patient care, both in major and minor ways, such as meals delivered late and cold by nutrition staff spread too thin.

“The impacts of understaffing are felt in every inch of this building,” he said.

The unions and the hospital are also at an impasse over the issue of salary increases. The hospital has proposed a 10 percent raise for support staff and technical professional unions over the next three years, which includes annual cost-of-living increases. The union is proposing similar increases in a shorter time frame.

Berkowitz said the fact that more than 80 percent of voting members authorized a strike clearly shows that staff are feeling pressure from the hospital.

“It means people are at their breaking point,” he said.